Jodi Siegel’s All Pro Songwriters Showcase is held at Project Barley the third Tuesday of every month. This craft brewpub serves excellent food (gourmet pizza, wings, sandwiches, salads) along with wine and award winning beer. Food served till 8:30pm. No reservations. https://projectbarley.com/ 2308 Pacific Coast Hwy, Lomita, CA 90717
Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps
Teresa James and the Rhythm Tramps coming up in May! Gonna be a rocking time! This band is grammy nominated and have been touring all over the world and we are lucky to have ’em at the All Pro Songwriters Night, Tuesday, May 20, 2025 from 7-9pm. For more information on Teresa and the Tramps go to https://teresajames.com/
Jodi Seigel
Jodi Siegel, originally from Chicago, IL, is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Over the years Jodi has opened for and or shared the stage with many respected musicians including: Albert King, Robben Ford, Robert Cray, J.D. Souther, David Lindley, Fred Tacket and Paul Barrere (Little Feat) and countless others. Her songs have been recorded by Maria Muldaur, Marcia Ball, Tommy Ridgley and Teresa James.
April 26 – 8:00 PM, Doors 7:00 PM The Grand Annex 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro, CA Tickets
Paul Givant is the frontman, songwriter and founder of the Americana folk-rock band Rose’s Pawn Shop. He tours nationally and internationally with the group at festivals, theaters and clubs.
Since 2018, he has been writing solo records, through which he processes life’s highs, lows and complexities. Inspired by the sounds of 1970s folk rock, his new record Marigold is a deeply personal story of growth. Listen to the first single from Marigold, “Tripping On the Moon.”
Opening for Paul will be Mary Scholz / 8 PM
Mary Scholz’s “songbird vocals” (Americana Highways) and evocative songwriting have made her a live circuit favorite for over a decade. With her unique brand of gritty folk charm, the Philly-born, LA-based artist forges a personal connection with her audience every time she takes the stage. Zachary Ross of Rose’s Pawn Shop will join her for a few songs.
Spotlight on Singer-Songwriters presented with Blackbird Record Label
Hosted by Americana-Country artist Manda Mosher, a five-time LA Music Awards winner. Mosher performs along with Dead Rock West, Silas Nello and Pi Jacobs.
Grand Vision and Blackbird Record Label collaborated to put this Spotlight Series line-up together through a generous grant from the Live Music Society.
LA-based Blackbird Record Label, founded by recording artist Manda Mosher and record label executive and music supervisor Eric Craig, represents a strong community of Americana and Alt-Country artists. Manda and Eric are also the founders and producers of the annual California Country Show at Americanafest in Nashville.
🍷Pre-Concert Wine Tasting:
Taste fine wines led by professional sommelier, Jean-Philippe Molinari.
Free to Grand Vision members at the Friend, Champion, VIP Circle, Arts Advocate and Performing Arts Patron level – up to two per household, $16 per person for all others. Concert tickets are required to participate. Members’ tasting tickets must be redeemed in advance. Tastings begin one hour before the show, please arrive no later than 30 minutes into the tasting to participate.
LA Poverty Dept. presents The Covid Hotel – A Free Play
The Covid Hotel Welcomes You to the Future is a performance by Los Angeles Poverty Department, a theater group from Skid Row that has performed throughout LA and the world. It is inspired by interviews with healthcare workers who ran the LA County Health Department’s Quarantine & Isolation sites for unhoused COVID patients. The performance celebrates the unexpected innovations of these “Covid Hotels” and amplifies the programs that are building upon these innovations to provide low-barrier access to healthcare and housing. The performance will be followed by a discussion with local professionals who work with underserved communities.
This performance is free and open to all. No RSVP required.
Hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mermans “Mofaya” Mosengo and Jason Tamba formed Afro Fiesta, and recently rounded out the band with Coco Buono and Jose Agote, two members of the Argentine rock band Los Pinguos.
With early musical influences such as Bob Marley, Tracy Chapman and Peter Tosh, the band plays a fusion of eclectic styles including Afro-beat, reggae and Latin rhythms. You may recognize them from playing with Twanguero in their other band, Los Silverbacks.
Afro Fiesta has been part of the movement Playing For Change (PFC) since its inception. PFC aims to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music. Through PFC, Afro Fiesta has performed more than 400 concerts in over 25 countries, including headlining in Brazil for an audience of 35,000 and opening for Robert Plant in Australia. Earning a reputation as innovators, Afro Fiesta has performed at numerous music festivals, including SXSW and OBZ Festival in South Africa.
Original Wings band member, Laurence Juber and his full band deliver unforgettable moments from the rocking side of the Wings catalog. Hear “Getting Closer,” “Spin It On,” “Rockestra,” “Maybe I’m Amazed” and more.
Juber is recognized internationally as lead guitarist in former-Beatle Paul McCartney’s band Wings, with whom he won a Grammy. Since then, he has established himself as a world-renowned guitar virtuoso. His playing fuses folk, jazz, blues, pop and classical styles, creating a multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument.
The Two Tracks, hailing from Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, ignite their original Americana with Dave Huebner’s driving cello, creating a sound that’s both “sweet lonesome prairie” and “barn dance hootenanny.”
With songwriting by husband and wife Dave and Julie Huebner, the band’s four-part harmonies are backed by Dave’s driving cello and Julie on guitar, Taylor Phillips on bass and Fernando Serna on drums.
A promissory note is a legal document that will be created if there is a loan being obtained as part of the purchase of real property. The written note is designed to enforce a borrower’s promise to pay back a lender. The payor agrees to pay a certain amount of money to a payee in the future on a specified date. The note must spell out the name of the payor and the payee, and it must be signed by the payor.
It does not have to be notarized, but to be enforceable, a promissory note must contain an unconditional promise to pay a sum of money under specified terms and conditions of repayment. The note must also include an absolute date for payment. A concise promissory note will also include an interest rate and describe the collateral being used to secure the note.
Moving to a completely new area is exciting, but the early days can also feel isolating. Finding your community is the key to feeling at home, and luckily, there are plenty of ways to do just that. Here’s how to start making connections in your new neighborhood.
Simple as it may sound, one of the best ways is to just get out there. Get to know your physical surroundings. You don’t even need a plan — take a walk or bike ride with no specific destination, and you’ll soon come across the local coffee spots, parks and community centers where people hang out. If you feel like you need a friend to help you along the way, introduce yourself to your neighbors. Most people appreciate a friendly new face. This is even something you could do before buying a new place, to make sure the community is right for you.
You could also go with a more structured route. Look for clubs, sports leagues or hobby groups that match your interests. If there are none to your usual taste, endeavor to try something new. Whether it’s a book club, yoga class or local volunteer group, shared activities help forge friendships faster. Perhaps there isn’t a regular group that appeals to you, but many towns host local festivals, farmers’ markets and outdoor concerts. While these won’t occur as often, these types of gatherings can still offer a relaxed way to meet your neighbors and learn a bit more about local life. Keep an eye on social media or your town’s local website or forums for upcoming events.
Speaking of social media, it’s also a perfectly acceptable method of finding local people, not only events. Online social media platforms such as Nextdoor, Meetup or local Facebook groups can connect you with people nearby. Many communities have online groups for newcomers, making it easy to ask for recommendations and join in on local happenings.
There’s growing research into how trees are much more social beings than we’ve realized, as forestry ecologists look into the way trees communicate. Trees have demonstrated using networks of fungus in the ground, relaying messages to each other warning of predators, sharing nutrients with their “sick” neighbors, and even forging “alliances” with different tree species.
The underground fungal networks used by trees have been likened to the internet, variously called the “wood wide web,” “mushroom internet” or “mycorrhizal network.” Vast swathes of mycorrhizal fungus connect different trees in the forest. Trees are then able to send nutrients through these pathways to be picked up by connected trees as well as chemicals that act as “distress signals,” causing their neighbors to release substances that can defend against disease or attack from predators.
Ecologist Suzanne Simard is one of the researchers delving further into these studies. During one of her studies, she witnessed a Douglas fir tree that, having been colonized by insects, sent chemicals acting as a warning to a nearby ponderosa pine tree. This caused the pine to create enzymes that would protect it against insects. In other studies, she has seen older trees sending carbon, nutrients and water to young seedlings, the same way a mother would nurture her child.
Watch live or anytime at https://youtube.com/live/lndrJnpUhc8?feature=share
Local? Come watch in person! Just RSVP to reneesafier@hotmail.com. For the online viewer, the Livestream shows are free to watch, but the option to contribute is there for those who are in a position to do so. You can see our song list to make requests and contribute at https://andyandrenee.com/tickets-tips…, PayPal (paypal.me/andyandrenee) or Venmo, (www.venmo.com/Renee-Safier). A portion of the proceeds will go to the Los Angeles Midnight Mission. We are sustained by the generosity and support of the fans who love the music, and who donate as they are able. If you use funds from your bank vs. your credit card, we aren’t charged a service fee, but either way, we appreciate your support!
Andy & Renee & Hard Rain & Friends- Dylanfest 35
SUN, MAY 11, 2025 @ 12:00PM — 8:00PM Torino Plaza, Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance, CA 90503
March was not a good month for sellers of South Bay realty. Median prices for residential property collapsed into red territory for nearly all areas. Sales volume was right behind it with falling numbers everywhere except the Beach cities. Even at the Beach, where the number of homes sold rose, the median price went negative.
So to what should this market slow down be attributed? Is it the elevated interest rates? Probably not, since mortgage rates have actually come down, albeit only slightly. Perhaps it’s a lack of inventory? Not likely, as there are more homes on the market in most neighborhoods. Tariffs? There are none on real estate. Has inflation driven off the buyers? Possibly. Median home prices are up in a range from 40% to 74% across the South Bay, though most of that price jump occurred when mortgage interest was toying around the 3% area.
Economic chaos is probably a more accurate answer than any other. Investors like stability, which is not in evidence today. Right now, investors can’t tell from one day to the next, whether to expect recession or inflation. In order to buy low, or to sell high, it’s necessary to know which direction the economy is going. When they can’t tell, investors park their money in the least volatile place they can find.
It’s often called the “investor flight to safety.” So, when the IMF warns of “major negative shock” to the international economy, investments shift to gold and bonds. Right now, both are doing quite well. At some point the investment community will decide real estate has fallen as far as it’s going to, and then we’ll return to—inflation.
Beach:
Monthly home sales in the Beach cities climbed 11% above February, while the median price plummeted by 8%. The number investor flight to safety.of homes sold increased from 109 in the prior month to 121 units in March. The median price dropped $180,000, ending the month at $2,000,000.
On a year over year basis, the sales volume was even more insane, with 59% growth over March of 2024. The last time the local market saw sales numbers this high was during the pandemic, when interest rates were at rock bottom. The craziest part of the story—is seeing that with all those sales, the median price for March actually dropped $10,000. The decline was small enough to register as a 0% change.
Year to date comparisons to the first three months of last year showed similarly divergent percentages, though not quite as radical. Sales volume for the first quarter of 2025 exceeded 2024 by 43%. For the same period of time, the median price at the Beach rose an astonishing 22%. This compared to low and negative numbers across the rest of the South Bay for both sales volume and median price.
Harbor:
Talk about diverse—the Harbor area did a complete 180º turn on the Beach area. Monthly, the Beach was: volume – up, median – down; the Harbor was volume – down, median – up. The Harbor came in with a 7% drop in number of homes sold, falling to 253 units from 273 last month. The median sale was $803,000, a 6% increase over last month’s $760,000.
The same diversity, or is it perversity, kicked in on the yearly statistics. Compared to March of 2024, this year the Harbor area dropped 9% in the number of homes sold, while the median price of those homes climbed 4%.
First quarter home sales at the Harbor continued to climb, though not as aggressively as the Beach area. The sales volume rose 4%, which is more in line with business on the Hill and for the Inland area. For the same time frame, the median price fell 1%.
Hill:
Month to month sales in Palos Verdes showed a 9% increase, climbing from 46 units in February to 50 in March. While the number of homes sold climbed, March saw a 4% drop in the median price.
Comparing March of 2024 to this March brought 0% change for both the number of homes sold and the median price. Exactly 50 homes sold in both years. The median price actually declined by $10,000, though the change was statistically insignificant.
There was also no change to the sales volume for the first three months of this year. Median price on the Hill rose 11% for the first quarter of 2025.
Inland:
While March brought 11% growth in the number of homes sold compared to February, the Inland area challenged market pressure and registered a 1% increase in the median price. With 114 sales for the month, compared to 103 for last month, the Inland area maintained positive volume. At the same time, the median price improved by $12,500, up from the February median of $900,000.
Annually, March flipped the statistics, with both the sales volume and the median price dropping. Home sales fell by 9%, the same decline the Harbor area experienced. The median price was off 1%, which doesn’t seem like much until compared with the 40% growth since 2019.
Year to date the Inland area showed 6% growth in the number of homes sold compared to the first quarter of 2024. Like the Harbor area, the Inland area delivered a significant drop in the median price, coming in with 0% change.
Beach=Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo Harbor=Carson, Long Beach, San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City PV Hill=Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates Inland=Torrance, Lomita, Gardena
